Queen Anne.
1702–1714.

Queen Anne, the second daughter of James II., married Prince George of Denmark, who apart from sitting in the House of Lords as Duke of Cumberland, took no active part in the government.

Britain, allied with Holland and Germany, opposed the attempt of the French King to place his grandson on the Spanish Throne, and Churchill, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, was appointed commander of the combined armies. In four great battles, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet, Marlborough humbled the power of France. In 1710 Admiral Rooke and Sir Cloudesley Shovel captured Gibraltar. By the Treaty of Utrecht, drawn up at the close of the war, Gibraltar, Minorea, Hudson's Bay, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland became English possessions. Furthermore it provided that France should acknowledge the protestant succession in England and discontinue attempting to replace Roman Catholics on the throne.

On account of the dissatisfaction caused in Scotland by the failure of the scheme to form a colony on the Isthmus of Darien and the heavy duties imposed on goods passing between England and Scotland a Treaty of Union was framed. It enacted (1) That the two Kingdoms should be united under the name of “Great Britain,” (2) that the succession to the throne of Great Britain should be the same as that for England, (3) that the United Kingdom should be governed by one Parliament, (4) that sixteen peers and forty-five commoners should represent Scotland in Parliament, (5) that the laws relating to trade, customs and excise should be the same in both countries, (6) that the church and law courts of Scotland as already established should be maintained. The Treaty of Union was passed by the Scottish Parliament with a big majority and the Union, the beneficial results of which are incalculable, was effected.

Throughout her reign Anne showed a keen interest in affairs of state and appointed her ministers with discretion. Her private life was one of great sorrow, for, although she had a large family, all her children died young. On her death the Elector of Hanover, of whom our present sovereign is a direct descendant, became King as George I.